Musical instrument



No. 62l,900. Patentd'la'r. 28, |899. S. G. 000K.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

(Applicatinn led June 11, IBBSJ (No Modal.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL G. COOK, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETHS.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 621,900, dated March 28, 1899.

Application led June 11, 1898. Serial No. 683,158. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern;

Be it known that I, SAMUEL G. Coon, of Somerville,county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Musical Instruments, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing' like parts.

This invention relates to musical instruments of the harp class, and more particularly of the class cominonlyknown as citherns Instruments of this class commonly comprise a suitable sounding-board, upon which are arranged a series of strings constituting what may be called an open scale, upon which the air of the tune may be played, and usually at the left of this open scale of strings other series of strings are arranged in the order of the-several tones of different chords, provision usually being made for at least four cho1'ds--as,'for example, the chords of O, G, F, A, minor. By the usual arrangement of the chord-strings the number of chords possible upon an instrument of convenient size has been not exceeding four, and my invention comprehends a novel arrangement of chordstrings whereby the same number of'strings, which as heretofore arranged provided for but four chords, may by my novel arrangement provide for six or more diiferent chords, thus enlarging the scope or range of the instrument without increasing its size or cost. In instruments of this type as heretofore generally constructed it has been common -to Aintroduce into the open-scale strings, upon which the air is played, 011e or more sharpstrings, commonly an F-sharp, and as usually arranged the sharp string or strings lie in the same horizontal plane as the other open-scale strings. As a large majority of the tunes played upon instruments of this type require no sharp-string in the air, it becomes a matter of considerable',difficulty, particularly to the amateur, to avoid accidental engagement of the sharp-string when passing over it in playing upon the other strings of the open scale, such accidental sounding of the sharpstring being extremely unpleasant to the ear. To obviate this difficulty, lnyinvention comprehends the depression of the sharp string or strings in a plane below the plane of the remaining strings of the open scale, whereby in the ordinary playing upon the strings no vliabilityis present of accidentally engaging a sharp-string; but when the air requires a sharp-string the musician havin g it in mind may by proper manipulation of the iingeror ngers reach the depressed sharp string or strings, and thereby bring its musical tone into prominence where desired.

Another feature of myinvention which enlarges or broadens the range of the instrument without increasing its size is a movable piece,which I have called a movable bridge/7 arranged upon the sounding-board below and traversing the lines of several of the chordstrings and normally out of engagement with such chord-strings, but which when moved from normal into abnormal position engages the desired chord-strings at desired distance from the ends thereof, and by shortening the eiective or vibratory length of such strings raises the tones of all to a predetermined extent, whereby the same strings with the bridge raised become tuned for a higher chord than with the bridge depressed, thereby making it possible to obtain two distinct chords from the same strings without adjusting the pegs to which the strings are attached and by which they are ordinarily tuned. In the drawings, Figure l is a top or plan View of an instrument containing 'one embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2, a lefthand edge View or elevation ofthe instrument shown in Fig. l, partially broken away to expose parts to be described; Fig. 3, a sectional detail to be referred to, it showing the movable bridge in longitudinal section; Fig. 4, a diagram illustrating the arrangement of the chord-strings, and Fig. 5 a diagram illustrating the former method of arranging the chordstrings.

Referring to the drawings and the embodiment of my invention there shown, A indicates a suitable or usual sounding board or base upon which the several wires or strings are arranged. Along opposite edges of this sounding-board are arranged the suitably and usually irreg-ularly-shaped ledges `or ribs a, over which the several striu gs are drawn and which serve to limit the normal vibratory lengths of the several strings. For the best results the crowns of these ledges or ribs are provided with metallic surfaces a, herein shown as in the form of wires set into the ribs or ledges.

rlhe wires or strings are shown as secured to the instrument at the outer side of one of the ledges a, as best indicated at a2, Fig. 2, and are drawn thence over the top of the adjacent ledge a to and over the top of the opposite ledge a, and are wound, respectively, about the usual pegs or pins a3, suitably shaped, as by squaring their upper ends, to enable them to be turned to vary the tension upon their respective strings or wires for the proper trilling of the latter.

ln the constructional features thus far described myimproved instrument does not and need not differ materially from instruments of the same type now in use.

One feature of my invention, hereinbefore referred to, lies in the novel arrangement of the strings or wires whereby the capacityT of the instrument is increased, and this arrangement of strings I will now describe.

The strings included within the field indicated bythe letters a' fc are what have in the art been termed the opemscale strings, they being arranged in the regular order of the C-scale, for example, C, D, E, F, the., with the addition of the two sharp-strings, herein indicated as Ffstrings and lettered in the drawings s' s. The strings embraced within the iield a; yy are what may be called the chord-strings, upon which the accompaniment may be played for an air played upon the open-scale strings. lieretofore in instruments of this kind these chord-strings have been arranged or grouped to form so many distinct chords with the strings representing` the fundamental tone or lowest tone of the chord always at one-for example, the leftend of the group or series. This will be best understood by reference to the diagram Fig. 5. For example, then, referring to said iigure, it will be seenthat the chord of C is arranged with a fundamental tone, marked 1, at the left, followed in succession to the right by the strings representing the fifth, the octave, and the third. Then continuing to the right is the fundamental l of the chord G, in turn to the right of which are arranged in succession the strings representing the octave, t-he third, and the diminished seventh of the chord G, then of the chord F, the fundamental l, the third, fifth, and octave, then the chord of A minor, in which first is the fundamental l, then the octave, the third, and the fifth. yreferenee to this diagram itwill be perfectly clear that the capacity of the instrument is limited to the number of chords thus arranged upon the sounding-board and that no tone going to make up a part of one chord is available for use in connection with one or more tones of another chord to produce a new chord, because the fundamental tone of one chord always inter-venes between the other and what may be termed the harmenical tones of the two chords which it might be desired to associate in the formation of a new chord. Referring, however, to Figs. l and l, my present invention comprehends an arrangement of the strings which as there embodied consists in iirst arranging at the left end of the instrument the strings going to make up the chord (l, which maybe first the fundamental l, followed in the direetion of the right by the fifth, the third of the octave, and the octave. New instead of proceeding with the fundamental of the next chord, which has there been selected as the chord D, my present invention com prehends commencing the series of the chord l) with one of the harmonical tones-for example, the fifthfollowed by the octave, the third, and, lastly, the fundamental. Then follows the chord G, commencing in the present instance with the fundamenta-l l, then the octave, the third, and fifth, then of the chord F, the octave, third, fifth, and fundamental. Immediately below the numerical series of the diagram Fig. a l have arranged the corresponding staff-letters for convenience on the part of those more familiar with the arrangement of chords by letters on the staff.

lVhile my invention is not necessarily limited to the particular chords herein selected- Viz., C, D, G, and F-or to any particular arrangement of the strings of the different chords,so long as the fundamental of one chord does not always appear at the beginning ofthe chord series and separating the harmonical tones ofthe two adjacent series,yet the ad vantages resulting from my invention are apparent from the arrangement of the strings shown in the drawings. For example,the string representing the octave of the chord C may be combined with the tones ofthe chord D to produce the diminished seventh chord of D and the strings of the chord G maybe combined with the octave of the chord Fand produce the diminished seventh of the chord G; also, the oe tave third and the octave of the chord C may be combined with the fifth of the chord D to produce the chord of A minor andthe fifth of the chord G may be combined with the oc-v tave and third of the chord F to produce the chord of D minor. Thus by my novel arrangement of striu gs,whereby the harmonical tone-strings of adjacent chords are brought together with the fundamentals of the two chords on the extreme outer ends of the scries it is possible to combine one or more of the tone-strings of one chord with one or more of an adjacent chord in the production of a new chord without the intervention of a fundamental, which would occur in the prevailing methods of stringing and which would prevent any such combination of tones of differ ent chords. Thus while the number of strings in the arrangement shown in Figs. l and 4i is no greater than the number illustrated in the diagram Fig. 5, which represents the earlier practice, yet instead of obtaining but four IOC 621,900 y I s chords, as in the Fig. 5 arrangement, I obtain six major chords and two minor chords, and other arrangements and combinations might be made whereby with the same number of strings even a greater or perhaps a less aggregate number of chords might be obtained. The capacity of an instrument of this type is further increased in accordance with my invention by providing a movable bridge-piece d, Figs. I, 2, and 3, preferably iiattened in cross-section, whereby when in one position it does not engage the strings above it,though traversing the lines of such strings, yet when moved into a different position it does contact with such strings and serves as a bridge between the strings and the sounding-board. In the construction herein shown this movable bridge-piece is provided along one side witha metallic, preferably wire, crown d', which near the ends of the bridge and beyond the outside strings of the group or groups embraced within its length has its ends turned downwardly into or through the material of the bridge-piece, thence again outwardly to form trunnions or hinges d2, which may be stapled, as at d3, to the sounding-board. By this construction the bridge-piece is easily turned from inoperative to operative position, a handle 7L being provided for this purpose, the handle protruding from between two adjacent strings. The bridge piece is reinforced or supported from below the top of the sounding-board by a usual or suitable reinforcing block or member D. The arrangement of this bridge-piece on the soundingboard is'such that when turned from inoperative to operative position it shortens the effective lengths of the strings across which it lies by a distance corresponding to the distance between the crown ofl the bridge-piece when in operative position and the crown of the ledge a, over which the stringsare drawn, suoli distance being exactly what it should be to shorten the vibratory lengths of the strings engaged by the bridge enough to raise the pitch of the strings either one half or one whole tone, thus further enlarging the capacity or range of the instrument by providing means whereby identically the same strings, without change intheir arrangement or order, may be made to produce the tones in a new pitch-chord, which would otherwise be pipvided for only by supplying the same number of new strings, which of course would enlarge the size of the instrument.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 1, two notches are cut into the bridge for the two sharp-strings s, or the said instrument may be otherwise suitably constructed to cause one or, if desired, both ends of the sharpstrings to be depressed into a plane below the plane of the other strings of the open scale.

Thus while playing upon the ordinary C scale or arrangement of wires for producing the tones of the ordinary scale there isnoI danger of the operator accidentally engaging a sharp-strin g, which would cause a discord,

for the iingers in engaging the regular strings pass above the sharp-strings. cial instances, however, as make itv necessary to employ the sharp-strings the operator may very easily manipulate his finger or fingers to reach the depressed sharp-strin gs, and thus bring them into play at the desired times and without serious inconvenience, the slight inconvenience or difiiculty in reaching the depressed strings being more than offset, as I believe, by the absolute impossibility of the operator accidentally engaging the sharpstrings at the wrong times.

My invention obviously is not limited to the particular embodiment herein shown, for it may be varied widely within the spirit and scope of my invention as herein disclosed.

Obviously the depressed strings s might be fiat instead of sharp strings or might be any other sharp than F-sharp strings; but of course their location would be varied according to the particular string sharped or fiatted.

Having described my invention and without limiting myself as to specific arrangements and details, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. In a stringed instrument, the combination with a sounding-board, of a plurality of groups orseries of strings arranged thereupon, each series or group constituting the strings of a distinct chord, a plurality of adjacent groups being arranged with one or more of their higher or harmonical tone-strings immediately adjacent, and with the fundamental strings of such chords or groups separated by said adjacent harmonical tone-strin gs, whereby harmonical tone-strings of one chord may 'be combined with harmonical tone strings of the adjacent chord group in the formation of a new chord not necessarily including the fundamental string of either chord, substantially as described.

2. In an instrument of the class described, the combination with a sounding-board, and a series of strings arranged thereupon, of a movable bridge member arranged on said sounding-board and between the latter and the stringsl to be engaged thereby, and an op erating-handle on the said bridge member and reaching upwardly between and above the strings, whereby the said bridge member may be conveniently moved by the iingers when over the strings, from one to another position to vary the vibratory lengths of the strings engaged thereby, to vary correspondingly the pitch of the strings engaged, substantially as described.

3. In an instrument of the class described, the combination with a sounding-board, and a series of strings arranged thereupon, of a movable bridge member pivoted upon the sounding-board and between the latter and the strings to be engaged thereby, and an operating-handle on said bridge member and reaching upwardly between and above the said strings, and furnishing convenient means In such spe- IOC IIO

whereby the said bridge member may be i naine to this specification in the presence of swung from one to another position by the two subscribing;` Witnesses. fingers when above the strings, to vary the vi- SAMUEL G. COOK bratory lengths of the strings engaged there- 5 by, to vary correspondingly the piteh of the Witnesses:

strings enga-ged, substantially as described. FREDERICK L. EMERY,

In testimonyT whereof I have signed my AUGUSTA E. DEAN. 

